The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has become the latest to lend its voice to the widespread condemnation over the rounding up of undocumented migrants by the Immigration Department, sounding a reminder that treating the group humanely is vital to combating the Covid-19 pandemic.
This came after authorities purportedly sprayed Dettol disinfectant on undocumented migrants arrested during a raid in Cyberjaya.
"The MMA strongly condemns the Immigration Department's inhumane treatment of undocumented migrants during a recent raid conducted in Cyberjaya.
"We are shocked at the way fellow human beings were treated by the government department's officers.
"Who did the Immigration Department consult before carrying out their 'raids'? Surely the spraying of Dettol is not part of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) from the National Security Council (NSC) or Health Ministry," said MMA president Dr M Subramaniam in a statement today.
He said such raids will cause migrants to flee and hide from the authorities and this will complicate efforts to curb Covid-19.
"These are the types of incidents that have led to migrants not trusting the authorities. This trust deficit needs to be addressed.
"The authorities' usual practice of 'raid and detain' must stop and better ways should be sought to tackle the problem of undocumented migrants," he added.
Subramaniam reminded the government that more raids would likely result in an increase in detention centre clusters as the country has repeatedly seen.
"The MMA urges the government to engage with NGOs in reaching out to the undocumented migrants.
"The migrants need to be given the assurance that they will be helped and not harmed," he added.
Undocumented migrants, Subramaniam said, are one of the most important groups to vaccinate.
"If half of the Malaysians in the country have yet to register for the vaccine, imagine the enormous challenge it will be to get the 2-3 million undocumented migrant workers vaccinated.
"We may not achieve herd immunity if we fail in our efforts to vaccinate our significantly high migrant worker population.
"To get migrant workers (documented and undocumented) to cooperate, the authorities need to first start treating them like human beings," he stressed.
Earlier, several health experts also condemned authorities for spraying disinfectant on undocumented migrants during the Sunday night raid.
“This is completely inhuman and harmful behaviour by the authorities,” said paediatrician Dr Amar-Singh HSS, urging the Health Ministry to intervene.
“They are our fellow human beings. The spraying has absolutely no value,” he added.
World Health Organisation Science Council member Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, who has been vocal in criticising the government’s mass sanitisation exercises as not being in line with the current understanding of Covid-19, said she is lost for words over the incident.
“I am actually lost for words. Where has our humanity gone?” she asked.
Adeeba maintained that rounding up migrants is counterproductive to the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
The Immigration Department’s video from the raid showed its officers being sprayed with disinfectants from the head to the bottom of their shoes, while footage from Malaysia Gazette showed that at least some detainees were sprayed in the face as well as their hands.
The Immigration Department defended its actions in a statement posted on its official Facebook page yesterday.
It said it had sprayed Dettol not only on undocumented migrants detained during the raid, but also on Immigration Department officers participating in the raid including its director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud.
“This was done to curb Covid-19 infection because their living spaces were very dirty and crowded.
“The Immigration Department views seriously the reports and writings made maliciously to tarnish the department’s reputation,” it added.
Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin recently courted criticism over the latest round of crackdown on undocumented migrants, launched in conjunction with the "total lockdown" effective from June 1 to 14.
Responding to his critics, Hamzah on Thursday said it would be impossible to administer Covid-19 vaccines on undocumented migrants and the operations were intended to "assist" them to register for a valid document, get vaccinated, and later given an option to leave or legally work here. - Mkini
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